TATTOO
A Beautiful Game Bonus

“You got this, Hawkeye!” My brother Ty claps me on the shoulder with a force that sends me stumbling a bit as I approach the Green Mamba tattoo parlor. Today is the big day. I’m getting the Stag Brothers Tattoo, with modifications. Lucy agreed with me that the laurel didn’t quite seem fitting since I have a different mother from my brothers. 

I push open the door to the shop and my brother Thatcher looks up from a table, where he’s sprawled out shirtless, getting new ink on his back. He grins. “Hawk. Glad I can be here for the big moment.” He rests his chin back on his palms, wincing just a little as the tattooer keeps working on what appears to be a tattoo of a moth. 

I scratch the back of my neck, a little nervous, waiting for my artist, Matt, to come out from the back. I turn and look out the front window of the shop, where Ty waves as he gets in his minivan. Where the heck is Lucy? She’s supposed to meet me here after she drops Wyatt at daycare. 

I relax a bit when Matt enters the room, grinning. “Hawk! Hey, man, you ready to get started?” I nod and start to take off my shirt, and Matt laughs. “At least buy me dinner first, man.” When I freeze, nervous, he laughs again. “Let’s check out the design I drew for you first, okay?”

We sit on a bench and he shows me a sketch. I asked for the same stag my brothers…and my sisters-in-law…all have. But mine is leaping over an outline of one of Pittsburgh’s iconic bridges. I feel a hand on my shoulder, squeezing, and I turn my head to see Lucy standing there smiling. “I think it turned out perfect,” she says. The design captures elements of my roots, mixed with a little bit of fantasy, which feels fitting since my life right now feels like a fantasy come true. 

Wyatt and Lucy officially moved in after this past Forge season. She let go of her lease after she lost a bet that we’d take home the championship our second year in the premier league. My mom even agreed to move back to Pittsburgh, although she moved in with Patty. It’s still amazing having her nearby. In two years I went from wandering around unsure of my identity, to spending almost all my time with an amazing woman, surrounded by family.

Matt flicks the paper and says, “Okay now you can take your shirt off, hot stuff.” I comply and he has me lean forward in a massage-type chair since my brother still isn’t done on the table. I press my cheek against the headrest, smiling at Lucy. “You’ll feel the vibration of the gun,” Matt says, and I do. “Okay, I’m going to get started.”

I wince briefly as he gets to work, but I quickly realize the sensation is more like a tingling than anything painful. “Okay, Thatch, I can see how you’d get more than one of these,” I say, hearing my brother grunt in the background. The design is a simple one and I’m surprised how quickly Matt finishes. I’m up and dressed before Thatcher is even done getting his color work. 

“We’ll see you all at Tim’s for dinner later.” Lucy pecks him on the cheek while I tip Matt and the two of us head out. 

“Where to?” She grins as if we aren’t headed home immediately. Most of my off-season days are spent working with the women’s legal support foundation, and Lucy spends her time doing trainings about training, attending coaching clinics all over the world. We both planned to take today off, though, and she knows as well as me we’re not going to waste a Wyatt-free morning.

“Wherever I can get you naked,” I tell her, sliding a hand over to squeeze her thigh while she pulls out onto Butler Street. She squirms a little and I see some pink creep onto her cheeks as she makes her way up the hill toward home. Lucy’s got ideas. I like it. 

And then I remember where she was after she took Wyatt to daycare. “Babe, I didn’t even ask how your thing went. Does it hurt?”

She holds out her arm after making a turn and I push up her loose sleeve, seeing the tiny red mark on her inner bicep where the doctor took out her birth control implant. I press a kiss near the area. “We both got needled today.”

“We did.” She smiles, the sort of smile that lights up her whole face, and her eyes glitter with happiness. I love knowing that I contributed to putting it there. Lucy parks and starts walking toward the elevator. I catch up to her quickly, needing to be near her. 

She leans into my touch, her body melting against mine as we ride up to our floor. She starts fumbling around for her keys and I use the opportunity to lick her neck, loving the sound she makes as I nibble my way up to her ear. 

She finally gets the door open and I pounce, spinning her quickly and hoisting her up  into my arms. Lucy wraps her legs around me but doesn’t kiss me. I’m about to pout about it when she smiles again, studying my face with a look of adoration that makes me feel weak. “I love you,” she says, and I feel a shiver through my whole body. 

“I love you, too,” I tell her. My voice catches as I add “so much.” I’ve felt forever about Lucy for a long time, and I wanted to do something grand, maybe take her to the stadium and propose to her in front of everyone we love. I already checked in with Wyatt and he says he’s cool with me marrying his mom someday. But suddenly, I need someday to be sooner. I am overcome, emotional about formally claiming my space in the Stag family today, and I set Lucy down. “Don’t move.”

I back up before she can answer and open the cupboard where I keep my whey protein and vitamins. Finding the tiny black box nestled back there, I turn to face her, grinning at her perplexed expression. I sink to my knees in front of her and take her hands in mine, which is a little awkward since I’m still holding the box, but whatever. 

“Lucy Nelson,” I say, “every day with you is a challenge, in the very best way.” She gasps quietly and bites her lip. “Having you and Wyatt live with me has been a dream come true, but I want so much more.”

“Cocky,” she says, laughing a little as tears well up in her eyes. 

I shrug. “I want it all, Lucy. I want all your tomorrows. I want to be the one you rely on, I want to be the one making the world a better place for you. Will you marry me and be my partner?”

“Hawk,” she says. “Yes. Yes, I’d love to marry you. God, you mean so much to me.” I stand up and open the box, showing her the platinum band with the emerald cut stone. I resist making a Beatles pun when I slide the diamond on Lucy’s finger. Her mouth is on mine before I get the chance, anyway. 

Her kiss is fierce, claiming, her fingers in my hair as she tries to bring me closer, closer to her. Our hands dance around each other’s sore spots as we shirk out of our clothes. Eventually I take her hand and pull her down the hall to our bed. Lucy lies down, peach skin glowing beneath the curtain of her hair, and I’m on her in a flash, loving the feel of her softness against me. 

She drags her nails through my chest hair, admiring my ring on her finger. “It’s beautiful, Hawk. Thank you.”

“Thank you for signing up for a lifetime of this.” I gesture at my body and she roars with laughter. Lucy reaches down, tracing a finger along my stiffening cock. I grunt in appreciation as she wraps her hand around me. 

“I want you,” she says, and I nod. I figured that part out when she ripped off her shirt. “No, I mean I want you now. Right now.” She adjust her hips, trying to guide me toward her center. Holy shit, she’s wet. I can feel the slick heat of her against my tip. “I mean it, Hawk.”

I nod and groan as she lines me up and both of us moan as I slide inside, so slick, so perfect. “Lucy.” Her name is a promise as I begin to move inside her. I think about everything that had to align for me to get here today, all that I went through and all that I’d do to stay here. 

Lucy wraps her legs around me and pulls me close to her. I can feel our heartbeats align this way. “I need you close to me,” she says. I nod, rocking slowly with her until I feel her inner walls begin to flutter and contract. “This is so perfect.” Lucy’s voice is breathy as she rocks her hips up. I stare into her eyes as she finds the rhythm she needs to fall over the edge. I look at her face, blissed out and euphoric. This woman, who just agreed to be my wife. 

“Oh, god, Lucy,” I cry, feeling the pleasure shoot up my spine. I erupt, crying her name as she holds me against her chest, and the two of us cling together, catching our breath. We make love all afternoon, only stopping to eat. 

Later, we go together to pick up Wyatt and share our news at the Stag family dinner. I smile at my mom, who dabs at her eyes with Patty’s napkin. Lucy and I sit around my brother’s dining room table, holding hands, basking in the glow of all these people who love us. 

I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for all of it.

Even when Ty rips off my shirt so the Stag family can all admire my new tattoo, even when Wyatt and his nine cousins break into Alice’s stash of marshmallows and get the carpet sticky, I’m grateful.

I lean my head against Lucy’s and smile. The beautiful game brought me a beautiful life.